The Greatest Sacrifice
by AngelD0418
Summary: I know that the brothers having a sister has been done before, but I thought I would take a stab at it. Dean, Sam, and their sister Lucy hunt down a wolf in the woods of Minnesota. But is it really wolf? Or is it something nastier? AU.


The Greatest Sacrifice

**Disclaimer:** Lucy Winchester, Sean Wheeler, Mike Bartlett, and Lorraine the nurse all belong to me. Everything else is not mine. The song in the beginning is "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera.

**Author's Note: **Okay so this is my first shot at Supernatural fan fiction. I have a tendancy to create my own characters, although not Mary Sues, so if that's not your thing, then this probably isn't your story. It's very much AU. Don't forget that. In my story, they've already found out that Meg is evil and have been making the siblings' lives hell. I've also inserted my own version of the thing that killed Mary and Jessica. I was very unsure about if I wanted to post this or not, but I decided to give it a shot, so please be a little gentle. Oh and there is cussing in here. Don't forget the AU part! Enjoy!

_Makes me that much stronger_

"Hey Luce?"

_Makes me work a little bit harder _

"Lucy?"

_Makes me that much wiser _

"Lucy!"

_Thanks for makin' me a fighter. _

"Lucy Marie Winchester!"

"What?" she cried. Lucy finally heard the yells from the front seat from her older brother Dean as she pulled her headphones out of her ears. She immediately felt bad about yelling at him. The eighteen year old was on edge. All three Winchester siblings were. It had been a very long six months. "What?" She said again, calmer.

"We're here," he told his sister.

Lucy was actually technically his half-sister, but it never really mattered to Sam and Dean. Nineteen years ago, John Winchester thought he had found love again three years after his wife's tragic death in a woman named Lynne. They had married four months after meeting, which had severely pissed off both of his sons. What pissed them off more was the fact that John didn't tell Lynne exactly what he did. For the time he was with Lynne, he gave up hunting for Mary's killer. Dean, at seven years old, felt a sense of betrayal. Sam was too young to understand, but Dean knew that if he did, he would feel the same.

After a year of marriage, Lucy was born. Five days after bringing the baby home, John decided that it was finally time. He told Lynne exactly what happened to Mary and what he had done for the last three years. Lynne, feeling scaredand betrayed,left, leaving Lucy behind for John and his sons to raise. The loss of two wives left John more depressed, more determined than ever to find Mary's killer, and even less attentive to his children than he had ever been. Dean and Sam, who were four and eight at the time, were left to watch after Lucy the best they could. They loved their little sister more than anything and tried so hard to keep evil things from getting to her. She became the symbol for innocence.

After losing Sam to college, Dean decided that Lucy should have a chance as well. When she turned eighteen, Dean surprised Lucy with applications to all the best universities, all of which she could get in to. She had always assumed, even when Sam left, that she would be hunting with her father and brother for the rest of her life. She accepted it, even though, deep inside, she had wanted what Sam had. When Dean gave her permission to go, she almost didn't. But in the end, she went to Kansas State University so she could be close to her family. She got to be normal for all of two months before Dean came to get her. She knew it was coming. She just wished she could have been at school a little longer. However, after all they'd been through together, there was no way she was going anywhere.

"Where exactly is here again?"

" Gray Heights, Michigan," Lucy's other brother, Sam replied from the passenger seat.

"Sounds thrilling." The town looked like any other small town they pulled into. Small shops and diners adorned the single road that ran through the middle of town. They were in the parking lot of the Gray Heights Motel. Lucy wondered why they could never find a town with a nice Hilton or Sheridan or even a Motel 6. It was always some shabby little motel that looked more suited to house rats than people.

"Luce, grab the clothes from the trunk, Sam get the weapons, and I'll go check us in," Dean ordered, climbing out of the car.

"And he thinks **I'm** the control freak?" Sam said, turning around in his seat to share a laugh with his little sister. Still, they climbed out of the car and proceeded to the trunk to grab what they were assigned. They met up with Dean in the lobby.

"Sorry, kids, no roll aways in this neck of the woods. All I could get was two queens."

"Aw, too bad," said Lucy. "Looks like you guys are sharing a bed."

"Oh don't you worry, girly. You'll get yours," Dean said, laughing wickedly, which made Lucy afraid for her sanity. Pranks were a big thing among the Winchester siblings. It was all they could do to literally keep themselves from losing their minds. They definitely didn't want a repeat of a certain asylum in Illinois.

"So we're looking for a Great Black Wolf?" Lucy asked once they had settled in the small hotel room. "I thought only Great White Wolves existed."

"Well, there have been numerous reports of a massive black wolf running through the woods not far from here," Dean said. "At least five people have been killed, all in their late teens or early to mid twenties, and only one person actually lived to tell about it."

"Why hasn't anyone gone out and tried to kill it?" Sam asked.

"One of those five? A twenty four year old guy named Sean Wheeler. He went out with his buddy, Mike Bartlett, the one who lived, to hunt it down. They were big time hunters and thought they were tough guys. Hours later, only one stumbled out of the woods, screaming about a black beast with red eyes."

"Dean? How do you know all this?" Lucy asked skeptically.

"I have my ways," he said with a sly grin.

"Touché."

"Let's go talk to Mike."

"Where's he at, all wise and knowing one?"

"Gray Heights Community Hospital."

Gray Heights Community Hospital. The place to go for the sick, injured, and dying residents of Gray Heights. Like everything else in the town, it was small and understaffed. With a swagger in his step, Dean walked up to the front desk of the emergency room, Sam and Lucy following close behind. "Excuse me, ma'am," he said to the woman at the desk. She looked to be in her 40's and was short and pudgy with curly brown hair and a scowl on her face. Her nametag read Lorraine. "I'm looking for our brother, Mike Bartlett. We understand he was brought in here last night."

"He's your brother?" Lorraine asked. "He didn't mention any siblings."

"We're kind of the black sheep of the family."

"All of you?"

"It's a long and involved story, but we just really want to make sure he's alright. He is our brother, after all." He had his pleading face on that no woman could resist. Seemingly, it still worked. Lorraine heaved a giant sigh before giving in.

"Alright. Follow me." She took off surprisingly quickly down the hallway. She stopped abruptly in front of a door at the end. "He's in here. You've got ten minutes." Just like that, she was gone.

"Are you Mike?" Sam asked as they walked into the room. The brown haired man on the bed turned his head slowly towards the Winchester siblings and they could see the grief and fear in his brown eyes. The scruffiness of his hair and his haunted eyes caught Lucy and Dean off guard as they realized that he bared a small resemblance to Sam.

"Yeah," he croaked out. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"We're hunters from out of town." For once, Dean was technically telling the truth. "We heard about the black wolf and we wanted to try our hand at hunting it down. I'm Dean Morris. This is my brother Sam and my sister Lucy," he said, stepping closer to the bed and indicating his siblings behind him. "We just wanted to know what happened out there. We want to know how dangerous it is."

"Don't," Mike said quietly.

"Don't? Don't what?" Sam questioned.

"Don't go out there. That thing, it isn't just a wolf. There's no way it can be a normal wolf."

"What do you mean?" All three siblings had now crowded around the bed.

"I've hunted wolf before. I've never seen a wolf that black or…with…eyes like that." A shudder ran through Mike's body and the heart monitor beside him began to beep more rapidly.

"What about its eyes?"

"They were glowing bright red. I can't really explain it better than that. Me and….and Sean…we had tracked it deep into the forest. It wasn't hard to follow. It was the biggest wolf I've ever seen. Easily my size. We hadn't actually seen it face to face until we cornered it. It turned around to face us and I suddenly couldn't move. I couldn't shoot, I couldn't move my feet, and I couldn't get away. It…it jumped Sean first. Ripped him to shreds." The beeps grew quicker as Mike's eyes began to tear at the memory. "I couldn't help him. I stood there while he screamed…and screamed…and I couldn't do a damn thing about it." He took a deep breath before continuing.

"It turned to me next and I prayed for a quick death. It leapt on top of me and I closed my eyes and felt its claws in my arms and my stomach. I think I screamed, but I'm not sure. But before it finished me, I heard a whistle from deeper in the woods. It got off me and ran away. I must have laid there for an hour, not moving, until I was finally able to stumble my way out of the woods. I remember passing out, and then ending up here." His recount had gotten to him and he had to turn away to compose himself. The heart monitors slowed as Mike calmed himself.

"Thanks, man," Sam said quietly. "I'm sure that was difficult."

"You're not gonna go after it too, are you?"

"I think we have to." The heart monitor suddenly leapt to life again.

"No! You can't! That thing is evil! It'll kill you too! All it wants is to kill!" Mike's outburst made the monitors around him go crazy and the siblings knew that nurses would be there in a matter of seconds. They had to leave.

"Sorry, man," Sam said as they slipped out the door and walked swiftly down the hallway past the nurses running towards Mike's room. The last thing they heard as they snuck out the sliding doors was Mike's screams.

"So you think it's more than a wolf?" Sam asked Dean from the passenger seat of the Impala.

"When's the last time you heard of a wolf, even a Great White, with glowing red eyes?"

"It's some sort of demon, then."

"Yeah. A demon possessing a giant ass wolf. Or it could be a shape shifter that can take on the form of an animal."

"Either way, silver bullets through the heart?"

"Bingo." Sam realized that there was one person missing from this conversation. He turned around in his seat to see Lucy staring absentmindedly through the backseat window.

"What do you think, Luce?" he asked.

"Huh?" She said, pulling her gaze from the view outside the window.

"Demon or shape shifter?"

"Maybe we should listen to Mike." Dean nearly hit the brakes in surprise. It wasn't like his feisty younger sister to not want to go on a hunt.

"What?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. I just…I don't know."

"What is it, Lucy?"

"It's nothing. Forget I said it."

"Why shouldn't we go?"

"I cast my vote for demon." She was avoiding the subject and Sam knew he would never be able to get her to talk now.

Astonishingly, the Gray Heights Forest Preserve was large. Seeing the rest of the small town, they were expecting to be able to see through to the other side of the woods. It was a dense, dark forest, with massive trees everywhere, touching the sky. Dean parked the Impala at the edge. The three siblings climbed out of the car and went to the trunk to grab the weapons they would need. They each tucked a pistol loaded with silver bullets into the waistband of their jeans and Dean grabbed a shotgun loaded with rock salt, just in case.

Sam and Dean headed towards the forest. Lucy, however, stood by the trunk of the car. She felt a sudden coldness come over her body and was immediately tense. She had the feeling that someone was watching her. Out of the corner of the eye, Lucy caught a movement from behind a tree. She saw a flash of black and blonde, but it was quick and she wasn't quite sure she had really seen it.

"Come on, Lucy. Let's get this over with!" Dean shouted at her from the entrance to the forest. She took one last glance around her before following her brothers into the woods.

Sam, Dean, and Lucy had been raised as hunters. Tracking came with the territory. Within ten minutes, they knew exactly which direction the wolf had gone. It wasn't a very smart wolf. Or demon. Or shape shifter. The sun was beginning to go down and they really just wanted to find the wolf, kill it, and get out of the forest.

Near sunset, the siblings came upon a house. It was a decent size and looked cozy. It was probably someone's summer home, although why they would put it in the middle of the woods in Michigan, they would never know.

"I bet it's in there," Dean said, pointing at the house, just as they heard a wolf howl from inside.

"You know, I bet you're right," Lucy teased. Dean rolled his eyes. They crept towards the house and noticed storm drains on the side, indicating a basement.

"My guess is that it's down there," Sam said.

"Why do you think that?" Dean questioned.

"I don't know. It's just one of those feelings." They had learned to trust those feelings.

"Oh my god," came Lucy's cry from beside Dean. They whirled around to face her and saw her looking at a window on the house. Passing the window was Meg.

"Shit," Dean said.

"I bet she's the one controlling the wolf," Sam supposed.

"You guys go get the wolf," Lucy suddenly commanded. "I'll take care of Meg."

"Lucy-"

"Give me the shotgun and go!" There was fire in her eyes and Sam knew to trust her.

"Come on, Dean," Sam said, tugging on Dean's shirtsleeve.

"Whoa, wait, just hold on a second. There's no way I'm leaving you to fight Meg alone, Luce."

"Just trust me on this, Dean. Go get the wolf. That's what you need to worry about." He looked at her for a moment and saw determination in her eyes.

"Be careful," he finally said. He handed her the shotgun and she gave him a look of gratitude before running off towards the porch.

Sam and Dean went around the back of the house to find a door to the basement. When the boys located it, they found it unlocked. They pulled out their pistols and Dean slowly opened the door. They could hear the wolf moving at the other end of the spacious basement. There were boxes scattered across the floor and there was a damp smell in the air. Dean slid silently across the floor towards the wolf and Sam followed just as silently behind.

Dean could see the backside of the wolf as it hunched in the corner. It was the biggest wolf he had ever seen and was blacker than night. He needed a clear shot at the chest. He could feel Sam creep up beside him and they both took aim, ready to shoot the moment the beast moved.

Then there was a growl and suddenly it was no longer a wolf. Dean felt himself fly backwards and hit the wall, Sam landing next to him. Instead of sliding down the wall, however, they were stuck to the wall. A shadow fell over them.

Meanwhile, instead of being stealthy, Lucy burst through the front door of the house and came upon Meg standing in the middle of the kitchen. Lucy realized that Meg was the thing in black she had seen before they entered the woods. She quickly raised her gun to shoot Meg through the heart, but before she had a chance, Meg was suddenly at her side and knocked the gun from her hand and it skidded across the floor. Lucy tackled her to the floor and they fought viciously. Lucy made it to her feet when suddenly everything went wrong.

Lucy abruptly sensed a wet stickiness stretch across her stomach, then pain. She caught sight of a glint of silver in Meg's hand that she recognized as a sacrificial blade. It had come out of nowhere as she was struggling to regain the upper hand. Her knees felt weak and she dropped against the wall behind, sliding down the length of it. Glancing down, Lucy saw the bright red blood stain her white shirt. She raised her head up to meet Meg's eyes and saw her still grasping the dagger. Lucy knew exactly what she was preparing to do. Lucy was to be the next sacrifice for her father, the father of all evil. John had contacted them through a text message the previous week and it was difficult to understand. The only understandable words in it were "father", "daughter", and "sacrifice". It all made sense now.

"Lucy, Lucy, Lucy," Meg scolded.

"Bitch, bitch, bitch," she responded.

"That's not very nice."

"What can I say?" Lucy said, her strength beginning to fade. "You're not a very nice person either. Actually, you're not a person period."

"Did you really think that you three could really stop the father of all evil? You're so naïve." During Meg's bragging, Lucy caught something out of the corner of her eye. It was exactly what she needed to slay the bitch, and it was behind her in the dining room. However, she couldn't get to it while Meg was watching her so closely. She turned her awareness back to Meg. She had crouched down in front of Lucy, pointing the dagger towards her. "Oh, I forgot to ask. Do you have any last words?" she asked, with a fiendish grin on her face.

"Yeah, I do," Lucy replied. Summoning what little strength she had left in her, she kicked Meg square in the face, knocking her onto her back. As quickly as she could, she reached behind her and grabbed the shotgun. She swiftly swung it towards Meg before she could get back up. "Bite me." With that, she shot Meg in the chest. There was an explosion of light and sound. It burned Lucy's eyes and she had to shield her face. She didn't see Meg's gruesome death, although she would have liked to, but she heard the horrible shrieking and that was enough.

When it sounded like it was all over, Lucy pulled her hands down and saw that all that was left of Meg was a pile of ashes. She grabbed the shotgun she had dropped after shooting Meg and pulled herself up on the wall. She made her way towards the basement, but stopped as she was passing the pile of dust. "Nobody messes with my brothers," she said quietly. She slowly made her way to the basement to help Sam and Dean in any way that she could. She had a sudden sense of foreboding. Something was going to change. Something big.

Dean was pinned. He could see that Sam was pinned to the wall just like him. The Shadow stood before them, a black mass with gleaming, ruby eyes. It wasn't totally solid, but not quite permeable. It spoke no words, for it didn't need to. Just looking at it made Dean feel like he was on fire. It always came back to fire. He could literally feel his skin begin to melt and he heard the moans of Sam beside him. Why the hell couldn't he protect his baby brother? His undertaking in life had always been to protect his younger siblings. Now his sister was upstairs fighting the spawn of Satan all by herself and Sam was next to him, melting just like he was. He was a failure and was about to resign himself to his fate, when he felt Sam still struggling beside him, and that gave him the strength to continue resisting to the end.

"Hey!" Came a sudden shout from the stairs. Dean couldn't see past the Shadow, but he recognized the voice as Lucy. For a moment, he was relieved that she had survived Meg, but that relief became fear when he realized that now she was left to face this monster. He heard the shotgun and the Shadow was thrown forward for a moment before it turned around. When it turned, Dean could see past it to Lucy, who was standing with the shotgun outstretched and a bleeding midsection.

The Shadow began to move quickly towards Lucy and his distraction released Sam and Dean from their bind. They fell to the floor just in time to see the Shadow ram itself into Lucy and smash her against the concrete wall at the other end of the basement. "LUCY!" Dean cried. He still couldn't move his limbs as he lay sprawled on the ground. "LUCY!" he screamed again. Suddenly Sam sprinted into his vision. He had gathered some supernatural strength from somewhere that Dean couldn't reach.

Sam reached the Shadow, who was still pinning Lucy to the wall, and placed his hands on the father of evil. The Shadow shrieked and released its hold on Lucy, who slid to the ground and remained unmoving. Suddenly, the Shadow and Sam were both on fire. Dean, who was finally beginning to regain feeling in his arms and legs, could only cry Sam's name and watch. There was a flash of light and the Shadow was gone, leaving only Sam, on his knees, breathing deeply.

Dean finally made his way to his feet and made his way to the other end of the basement. Sam had already moved to Lucy's side. "Lucy! No!" came Sam's anguished cry. Trepidation washed over Dean's entire body. He reached his two siblings and dropped slowly to his knees as he saw Lucy. Her eyes were open and unfocused. The bleeding in her stomach began to slow and clot and her lips were already beginning to turn blue. He felt for a pulse, even though he knew there wasn't one.

Tears burned in his eyes, and for once, he didn't care if anyone saw them. They ran unchecked down his face as he reached out and shakily closed Lucy's eyes. Sam had curled himself into a ball beside him and shook as he sobbed. They had always been prepared to die for their little sister. It wasn't supposed to be the other way around. She had sacrificed her own life to save her brothers. They had defeated Meg and the Shadow, but evil had prevailed nonetheless.

Sam and Dean took Lucy's body back to Kansas for the funeral. They had each left several messages for their father, none of which he responded to. He wouldn't show up for his daughter's funeral, and for the first time in his life, Dean found himself feeling a vast hatred towards his father. He and his brother stood in their black suits in the sunshine at the cemetery. It was a very small ceremony, consisting of only Sam, Dean, the preacher, and the preacher's family. Neither of the men paid attention to what the preacher was saying. They were lost in the memories, both good and bad, of their baby sister.

The preacher finished and Lucy's casket was lowered into the ground. The brothers moved forward and threw roses into the ground to be buried with the casket. Sam and Dean had been crying alone for the past two days and simply didn't have any tears left.

"I'm so sorry, Firefly," Dean said. "I'm sorry that I couldn't save you." He was wrong. There were tears left to shed. They followed the familiar tracks down his face. "I love you, Lucy," he said before turning away to give Sam his chance to say a last goodbye. He waited a minute, composing himself, until he felt his brother slide up beside him and they began to walk towards the car.

Something stopped him. He felt a warm breeze move past his face and Sam stopped as well. There was a figure standing next to a tombstone in the distance. He shared a glance with his brother and they walked towards the figure. As they got closer, they recognized the tombstone as their mother's. And then the sun suddenly shone brightly on the figure. It was a beautiful young woman in white, with long brown hair and a glow about her.

"Lucy," Dean breathed. The brothers stopped in their tracks and Dean felt his stomach drop to his feet. Lucy walked, no, glided, towards them. She stopped directly in front of them and smiled. "Am I dreaming?" Dean choked out

"No, you're not. And if you are, you're both having the same dream, which would be a little freaky, don't you think?" She asked with a hint of teasing in her voice. Her voice was the most beautiful sound Dean could ever imagine.

"But-but you're…dead…we saw you…" Sam spoke up.

"Well, I guess I'm technically, sort of dead, but not really."

"Huh?" Dean said.

"Ever heard of limbo?"

THE END

**Author's Ending Note:** If you want a sequel, I'll write one. Review please! I'll give you a cookie if you do:)


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